‘You actually have a pretty nice job,’ I was told recently by an acquaintance, and I couldn’t do more than nod in agreement. As editor-in-chief of New Scientist, I meet the best scientists, present Lowlands Science and talk about groundbreaking research in the media. In addition, I get to interview all kinds of interesting people, such as neighbor Erik Scherder, professor of neuropsychology at the VU.
Jim Jansen | Photo Eddy Ellert
Mhe is probably one of the most prominent residents of the Watergraafsmeer. Always neatly dressed and ditto haircut, cycling just a meter behind his wife Sylvia or walking through Park Frankendael with his dog. Erik Scherder, not only a professor but also a much sought-after writer and speaker. His books on the brain are bestsellers at the Linnaeus Bookstore. And his performance on De Wereld Draait Door, when he asked Matthijs van Nieuwkerk ‘if he could join us for a while’, has now become one of the biggest TV classics of the past ten years.
‘Good example is good to follow’
Last summer we had a coffee meeting at the Middenweg, because he had ‘something nice for the newspaper’. When you say Erik Scherder, you automatically say move and he continues his campaign to make the Dutch more active with undiminished energy.
‘Good example is good to follow’, he says with a smile as he pushes his empty coffee cup aside and stands up. ‘It’s not just children and older people who need to exercise more, but also my own students. That is why I asked the rector of the VU for permission to interrupt my lecture twice for a number of exercises.’
Watched by the people on the terrace, he admonishes the reporter to get up, then bend his knees and make the numbers one through ten with folded hands in the air. “Do this a few times a day and you’ll feel the difference in no time,” he says, before taking a quick sip of water.
After an interlude of a minute or two, we sit down again, while he patiently poses for photographer Eddy. Why is it so good to take a detour or do some exercises on a regular basis? Scherder: ‘Exercise makes you sensitive to insulin, which reduces the risk of diabetes-2, cardiovascular disease and obesity. Exactly the problems we face worldwide. When we’re done with the exercises, the blood circulation is back in order and the sugar balance is okay again.’
After half an hour it is time to go. He still has to prepare lectures and later in the evening he will give an explanation on the same subject on the radio. What does he hope to achieve in the end? ‘I hope that Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf really picks up on this. We have a professor of physics as minister. What other country can say that? He can tell like no other what the positive influence of art is on the brain. He should definitely also know that this also applies to exercise. For example, children in pre-vocational secondary education sit still too much and he can change that. He just has to take the lead.’
And he’s gone. In firm stride. On to the campus on the Boelelaan and the Mediapark in Hilversum.